The University of Toledo

Provenance: Received from Herbert Woodward Martin 1975-2005, 2007-2008, and 2011

Access: OPEN with the exception of correspondence between HWM and Leo Keseling.

This correspondence is restricted until the year 2050 per the instructions of the donor.

These items are located in Box 17 (Located in Range 66, small archival box).

Collection Summary: The majority of this collection consists of correspondence from fellow writers, associates, former students, publishers, and family. Other materials include poetry in rough draft, typescript, and published forms; fliers and clippings; photographs; posters; journals; and ephemera.

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s)

responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with

their heirs or assigns. Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code. The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Papers I and II processed by Barbara A. Shirk in March 1987 and January 1995. Papers III processed by Lisa Petree, Maria Halovanic, Marsha Weatherspoon, and Laura Micham, July 1999; Marlo A. Kitchen, April 2001; Marlo A. Kitchen and Sara Wise, April 2002; Ana Nascimento, July 2002; Sara Wise, February 2005; Tamara Jones, May 2006, September 2009; last updated: June 2014

Biographical Sketch

Herbert Woodward Martin was born in Birmingham, Alabama on October 4, 1933 to David Nathaniel and Willie Mae Woodward Martin. When he was twelve years old, he moved with his mother to Toledo, Ohio where he graduated from Scott High School. He then earned a B.A. degree from the University of Toledo in 1964, and would go on to earn a Masters of Art at the State University of New York, Buffalo in 1967, a Masters in Literature at Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College in 1972, and a Doctorate in Creative Writing at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1979.

According to his own autobiographical essay, “One Long Breath: A Bel Canto Aria,” 1959 to 1960 were important years, “important because of the places I traveled to and the people I met.” During those years he attended the Antioch Writer’s Conference where he met poets W.D. Snodgrass and Anne Sexton; traveled to Boulder, Colorado where he met Karl Shapiro; and then headed to Bread Loaf for a working scholarship. It was at the Bread Loaf conference that Martin realized that he had enough talent to be a writer, and so, with $5 dollars in his pocket, a room for a week at the 34th Street YMCA, “and a world of confidence,” Martin began his life in New York, prepared to conquer the literary scene. Life, however, had a lesson to teach him, and after a week of “walking, filling out [job] applications and being so demoralized for daring to have so much ambition, and for being so black and intelligent,” Martin secured a job at World Publishing with only three dollars left in his pocket.

After a few months of working at World Publishing and slowly gaining enough confidence to read his poetry in an open forum, Martin gave a reading at “Les Deux Megots,” a coffee house on Manhattan’s East Side. He gave the reading under a pseudonym, David Dave, a combination of his grandfather’s and father’s given names, but once invited to join the “Deux Megots” poets to discuss works in progress, he decided to use his given name, Herbert Woodward Martin.

While participating in the readings and workshops at the “Les Deux Megots,” Martin heard a variety of poems; “and some of those were dreadful, and some of those were mine,” he later recalled. Some poems “made me rethink both word and act in visionary ways. The latter is the kind of poem you wanted to experience, and one had to be willing to gamble on those reading nights and those workshop nights…I always heard something which inspired me or which told me to beware of certain pitfalls.”

The interactions and friendships that Martin formed with the other poets in New York not only increased his confidence in his writing ability, but also made Martin more aware of his own writing. “In those days,” he writes, “I was trying to make the best poems I could, and that meant absorbing as many influences as possible rather than limiting myself to one racial or ethnic group. No matter what choices you make, you pay for them in unimaginable ways.”

Although Martin had been published in a number of literary journals, he did not publish his first book of poems, New York the Nine Million, until 1969 after he had been settled in teaching, first fulfilling a fellowship at S.U.N.Y., Buffalo, and then being named assistant professor and poet-in-residence at Aquinas College. In 1970, Martin became a professor at the University of Dayton, where he taught courses in African-American literature and creative writing until his retirement from full-time teaching in 1996.

In 1981 The University of Toledo honored Dr. Martin by establishing the Martin-Bissell-Neuman Scholarship Award. It is presented each year to an outstanding nursing student and is named for the three women who most influenced his life and career -- his mother, Willie Mae Woodward Martin; Sarah S. Bissell, a former University of Toledo English professor; and Irene Neuman, a New Yorker and early mentor.

In 1990, Martin was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to Janus Pannonius University in Pécs, Hungary for the 1990-1991 academic year. In Hungary he taught American and African-American Literature, translated Hungarian poetry, and produced more of his own writing.

Throughout the course of his life, Martin has enjoyed an active and prolific career as a scholar, teacher, performer, and foremost as a widely recognized writer. His work has appeared in many well-known publications as well as a number of anthologies. He has authored eight books of poetry, including New York the Nine Million, The Shit Storm Poems, The Persistence of the Flesh, The Forms of Silence, Inscribing my Name, and On the Flyleaf. He is regarded as one of the leading scholars of 19th century African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and has published extensively on the subject as well as touring and performing the poetry of Dunbar all over the country. He is editor or co-editor of In His Own Voice, Paul Laurence Dunbar: Selected Poems, and The Collected Novels of Paul Laurence Dunbar, and has been part of a number of festivals, videos, and performances dedicated to the poet, including writing the libretto for an opera based on Dunbar’s work.

In 1999, Martin was awarded the Mellen Poetry Prize for his epic poem "Log of the Vigilante" and in 2002 he was the recipient of the Ohio Governor’s Award. He was also named Dayton’s poet-laureate and was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Dayton, continuing to teach and perform after his retirement. In 2002 he also won the Mark Twain Award from the Society for Midwestern Literature. In 2004 Kent State University Press published Martin’s biography, Herbert Woodward Martin and the African American Tradition in Poetry, authored by longtime friend Ronald Primeau. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Wright State University in 2010.

Herbert Woodward Martin currently resides in Dayton with his wife, Sue Altman. They have two children, Sarah and Julia, and three granddaughters, Marina, Christian, and Athena.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Herbert Woodward Martin are comprised of three separate groups given to the Ward M. Canaday Center over many years. Each group has been processed separately and therefore particular series – such as Correspondence, Writing, Writing by Others, Printed Materials, Audio/Video Materials, Journals and Notebooks, Photographs and Ephemera – will be found in each of the three groups and may overlap.

PAPERS I and II, 1940-1994

The first two groups of papers, dating roughly from 1940-1994, consist of correspondence from literary figures, fellow writers, associates, former students, publishers and family, poetry drafts, typescripts, journals, and publications.

Some items of interest among the papers are Martin’s student papers from early college days, material on courses he taught at the University of Dayton, writings on Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ezra Pound, and others, fliers and programs associated with his performances and readings, theatre and show programs that are autographed by such notorieties as Marian Anderson, William Warfield, Faye Emerson, Bette Davis, and Sammy Davis, Jr., clippings, photographs, posters, journals, correspondence and publications relating to the Paul Laurence Dunbar Centennial Celebration and the Emily Dickinson Centennial Symposium held at the University of Dayton. In addition there are recordings and a Dunbar video. Also included in the collection are materials relating to his teaching experience at Janus Pannonius University in Pécs, Hungary.

PAPERS III, 1948-2011

The third and largest component of the Herbert Woodward Martin Papers is arranged into thirteen series: I. Correspondence, II. Writings, III. Publications, IV. Writings by Others, V. Printed Material, VI. Financial Documents, VII. Legal Documents, VIII. Family Papers, IX. Scrapbooks and Notebooks, X. Photographs, XI. Audio/Video Materials, and XII. Miscellaneous. The Writings series is divided into five subseries: Drafts of individual poems, Prose typescripts, Poetry typescripts, Play typescripts, and Academic writings. The remaining series are not further subdivided. Correspondence with Leo Keseling is restricted and cannot be accessed until the year 2050. (Located in Range 66, small archival box).

In addition to containing correspondence with friends, colleagues, publishers, and organizations requesting performances, the Correspondence series contains letters from family members including Martin's wife, two daughters, and mother. Unsigned and partial correspondence are arranged in their own folders as are correspondence signed without the surname of the signer, signed with initials, or sent to multiple recipients. Correspondence in each subseries is arranged alphabetically according to the surname or organizational name of the correspondent. In the case of multiple communications generated by an individual or organization, correspondence is also arranged chronologically within those particular folders.

The Writings series contains poetry and prose arranged alphabetically collected in their different draft forms, as well as final copies. The series contains both individual poems and collected works of poems. Following the poetry series are prose typescripts and play typescripts, also arranged alphabetically along with various drafts. The following series of general writings consists of various academic writings, papers, children's books, criticisms, speeches, and academic research.

The Academic Writings series contains various works related to Martin’s scholarly pursuits. It includes course proposals, course descriptions, criticism of writings, essays of writings, interviews, and the research and drafts for the work on Paul Laurence Dunbar, "In His Own Voice." The research contains biographies, chronologies and various notes on Paul Laurence Dunbar. Following the research are drafts of "In His Own Voice" arranged chronologically as best as could be determined.

The Publications series contains appearances of Martin's work in books, journals, magazines and newspapers. The Writings by Others series consists of typescripts of poetry and prose written by others for four different projects of which Martin was an editor or organizer: an issue of the journal "Der Rabe" dedicated to African American writers, a festschrift for Ezra Pound, and a symposium dedicated to Emily Dickinson, and submissions to "The Great Lakes Review." Also included in this series are poetry, prose, and music written by students, colleagues, friends, and admirers, as well as books that Martin used as resources for some of his poems. These are arranged alphabetically by title where applicable.

The Printed Materials series contains applications and proposals for grants and projects, biographical and descriptive information, brochures and fliers, catalogs, journal articles about Martin, materials related to Martin's mentor Robert Hayden, newspaper clippings, press releases, reviews about Martin's performances and achievements, posters and programs advertising Martin's performances and readings, performance and rehearsal schedules, and various other printed materials related to Martin's career.

The Financial and Legal documents series contain work agreements, documents associated with Martin's evaluations and promotions at the University of Dayton, contracts for performances, publishers’ contracts, titles, and various other documents related to Martin's professional and personal life. The Family Papers series consists of materials amassed and created by Martin's wife (Elizabeth Sue Altman Martin), his daughters (Julia and Sarah), and his mother (Willie Mae Martin).

The Scrapbooks and Notebooks series is arranged chronologically and contains books kept by Martin, in which he recorded notes, daily events, thoughts, and appointments. The Photographs series is arranged by type and contains a family photo album plus loose family photos, photos of Martin performing, stills and candid shots of Martin, photos of others, and a group of photos taken by Martin. The Audio/Video Materials series consists of recordings of performances and readings by Martin and others.

The Miscellaneous series contains certificates and awards, membership cards, tickets, plaques, and various other mementos of Martin's career. Additionally, works of art, drawings, paintings, and other renderings of and for Herbert Woodward Martin over the years are located in the Oversize series.